Explora Journeys Bars Guide: Where We Like to Drink Onboard

Sep 8

5 min read

Updated: Sep 21

Explora Journeys Bars Guide: Where We Like to Drink Onboard

One of the things we appreciate about Explora Journeys is that having a drink onboard rarely feels like simply going to “the bar”.

The different lounges and outdoor venues each have their own atmosphere, and where we choose to sit often depends as much on the time of day as what we want to drink.

After sailing across the Explora fleet and collecting menus along the way, we have also built something we wished existed when planning our own cruises:

a searchable Explora Journeys Drink Finder.

You can search cocktails, wines, spirits, alcohol-free drinks, ingredients and even individual venues — and see whether an item is included or carries an additional supplement.

→ Search the Explora Journeys Drink Finder

But first, here are the bars and lounges worth knowing about. Enjoy our Explora Journeys Bars Guide

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Malt Whisky Bar

For us, Malt Whisky Bar is one of the most distinctive bars onboard.

As the name suggests, whisky is a major part of the offering, but you certainly don't need to be a whisky drinker to enjoy the venue. There are cocktails and other spirits too, and the atmosphere makes it particularly well suited to a slower drink later in the evening.

If you are interested in premium whisky, this is also one of the most interesting menus to explore because the selection extends beyond the included offering into bottles and pours carrying a supplement.

Best for: whisky, an after-dinner drink and a quieter evening atmosphere.

Lobby Bar

The Lobby Bar occupies a completely different role.

It is one of those places you naturally pass throughout the day, making it easy to stop for a drink without really planning to “go to a bar”.

On EXPLORA III, the lobby area has become an even more important social space, and we like the way drinks here can become part of the wider atmosphere rather than the destination in themselves.

Best for: an easy pre-dinner drink and watching the ship come to life around you.

Explora Lounge

Explora Lounge is one of the more relaxed indoor spaces onboard and a venue we often return to during the daytime.

It works particularly well when you want somewhere comfortable to sit for longer rather than just ordering a drink and moving on.

It is also home to afternoon tea at certain times during the voyage, giving the space a different character depending on when you visit.

Best for: daytime drinks, a slower afternoon and sea days.

Journeys Lounge

If Explora Lounge is about relaxing during the day, Journeys Lounge becomes much more important in the evening.

This is one of the primary entertainment spaces onboard, so drinks here are often part of a show or an evening rather than a standalone bar visit.

On EXPLORA III in particular, we felt the entertainment had taken a noticeable step forward, making Journeys Lounge somewhere we spent more time than on our earlier Explora sailings.

Best for: cocktails with live entertainment and later evenings.

Sky Bar

Few locations onboard make more sense at sailaway than Sky Bar.

It is about the setting as much as the menu: open deck, sea views and a natural connection to where the ship is going next.

A good sailaway atmosphere can transform this venue, particularly when music and the crowd come together.

Best for: sailaway, sunset and an outdoor cocktail.

Conservatory Pool Bar

The Conservatory Pool is one of the most useful all-weather spaces onboard, and its bar naturally becomes part of that experience.

Because the pool can remain protected from the weather, this is somewhere you can realistically spend time even when conditions outside are less inviting.

It is an easy place for a drink during a pool afternoon without needing to relocate elsewhere on the ship.

Best for: pool days and drinks regardless of the weather outside.

Helios Pool Bar

Helios is the adults-only area and has a very different feel from the Conservatory.

When the weather is right, this is one of the strongest outdoor places onboard for combining sunshine, sea views and a drink.

It feels more like a destination in itself rather than simply a bar beside a pool.

Best for: sunny sea days and a quieter adults-only atmosphere.

Astern Pool Bar

At the aft of the ship, Astern Pool Bar gives you one of our favourite combinations onboard: a drink and a view over the wake.

The outdoor spaces around Astern are naturally appealing when the weather cooperates, and this is an easy place to spend considerably longer than originally intended.

Best for: aft views, warm afternoons and watching the wake.

Astern Lounge Bar

Inside, Astern Lounge provides another evening option with a different atmosphere from Journeys Lounge or Malt Whisky Bar.

That variety matters on longer voyages. You don't necessarily want every evening to feel the same, and moving between the different venues is part of what makes the ship feel more interesting at night.

Best for: an indoor evening drink when you want a change of atmosphere.

Sakura Bar

Sakura has one of the most interesting drink selections we have collected.

Alongside the wider bar selection, its menu includes Japanese beers, sake and shochu, Japanese-inspired drinks and its own cocktails.

That makes it worth looking at even if you are not eating at Sakura at that particular moment.

Some of the drinks that stood out from the menu include Kai, made with gin, sake, elderflower, yuzu and grapefruit, and the Sakura Sour, combining shochu, yuzu and seaweed syrup.

Best for: Japanese spirits, sake and cocktails that feel different from the rest of the ship.

The Cellar on EXPLORA III

The Cellar deserves to be treated separately.

Rather than being another general cocktail bar, this is much more focused on wine and premium bottles. The menu we collected on EXPLORA III extends from wines by the glass into a remarkably broad premium selection.

For someone genuinely interested in wine, this is one of the menus worth exploring in detail.

Best for: wine discovery and premium bottles.

Are Drinks Included on Explora Journeys?

A large part of the onboard drinks selection is included, while certain premium wines, spirits and other selections carry an additional supplement.

One problem when looking through individual menus is that it can be difficult to understand quickly which is which.

That is one of the main reasons we created our Drink Finder.

When a source menu shows no price, we mark the drink as Included.

When a price is shown, we display it as the additional supplement.

Where we have collected menus showing different supplement prices for the same drink, our database displays the highest confirmed price we have seen. That gives you the more conservative number when planning your cruise.